


We Need a Pining Clean Up in Aisle Five

by Bk_Betty



Series: Tumblr Ficlet Challenge [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Grocery Store, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Brief mention of past Steve Rogers/Sharon Carter, Grocery Shopping, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, apartment sharing au, but they don't know it yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 15:27:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13707285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bk_Betty/pseuds/Bk_Betty
Summary: Best friends and roommates Steve and Bucky are going about their grocery shopping when a little old lady points out the obvious. The pining is strong in this one!





	We Need a Pining Clean Up in Aisle Five

**Author's Note:**

> This is the third in my series for the Tumblr Ficlet challenge started by [Bear_shark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bear_shark/pseuds/Bear_shark) and [Parrannnah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parrannnah/pseuds/Parrannnah)! It’s a fun little challenge! If you’re on Tumblr, consider joining it! 
> 
> **Prompt:** Shared apartment AU - grocery shopping together

“Put that back,” Steve says without looking over at Bucky. He hears a mournful sigh but notices Bucky doesn’t add anything to their cart. 

Steve is carefully examining the avocados in search of one that is almost ripe. He has plans for an epic avocado and tomato sandwich tomorrow and he has to find one that isn’t too hard or too mushy.

“Please stop fondling the fruit testicles. You look like you’re getting off on it,” Bucky complains, sauntering back to their cart with a bag of cheese puffs. 

Steve rolls his eyes as he snatches the bag out of Bucky’s hand. “No junk food! It’s like you weren’t even listening to your doctor this morning!”

“Quit bustin’ my chops, Ma!” 

Steve stares Bucky down until he concedes and heads back to wherever he found the forbidden snack. Steve purposely picked a health food store for their weekly grocery shopping so Bucky couldn’t buy junk. How he found cheese puffs in this place is a mystery. Steve finds an avocado that meets his standards and moves on to the tomatoes. 

“We’re going to be here alllll day if you keep examining the produce like it’s a crime scene.” Bucky whines, throwing himself against the handle of the shopping cart. Steve lets out a deep sigh, wondering again why he is in love with a toddler. Not that Bucky knows about Steve’s super sized crush. 

“Save it for the stage, drama queen. We just got here 15 minutes ago.”

Bucky pulls out his phone from his jean pocket and shoves it in Steve’s face. “We have been here for almost an hour, you asshole!” 

Steve blinks at the time. That can’t be right. He looks at the content of their shopping cart, a mish mash of fresh produce, quinoa, farro, lean meats and a light smattering of dairy products. There is no way it has taken them an hour to collect this meager amount of groceries. 

“Well, I’m almost done,” Steve covers, refusing to admit he is obviously taking too long. “This would go a lot quicker if I didn’t have to stop you from adding crap to our cart every five minutes. You’re worse than a five year old hopped up on Pixy Stix.”

“I wish I had Pixy Stix,” Bucky pouts. 

“Jesus, Buck, you are an adult. Stop whining before I give you something to whine about.”

A young brunette woman standing next to them snorts loudly. She turns several shades of red before picking up a head of radicchio and scurrying away. 

Bucky levels Steve with his best ‘stop embarrassing me’ glare. “Rogers, don’t traumatize innocent bystanders with your nonsense. How much more do we need?”

Steve looks down at the list on his phone, internally chastising himself. His offhanded remark immediately conjured up an image of Bucky across his knees, his amazing ass inches from Steve’s hand. He’s been slipping up more over the last few months, ever since Bucky dumped that asshole Brock. Steve was pretty sure Brock knew about his crush. The prick packed on the PDA whenever Steve was in the room, something that made Bucky noticeably uncomfortable. And since they shared an apartment, Steve was often subjected to Bucky and Brock’s sex noises. Although, now that Steve thinks about it, the sounds were mostly Brock groaning like a bad porno. 

Bucky snaps his fingers in front of Steve’s face, bringing him out of his thoughts. “Earth to Steve! I have rehearsal at 2, so we need to get this show on the road.”

“Sorry. Uhm, I just need a few things from the baking and international aisles and we’re done,” Steve stutters. 

Bucky flips his eyeglasses down from his hair to his face and snatches Steve’s phone away. Steve has to stop himself from moaning because Bucky wearing glasses is Steve’s kryptonite. It’s bad enough he’s been pining after his best friend since they were in high school. The last thing he needs is to humiliate himself in the middle of all this organic produce. 

“Can I have my phone, please?” he snaps, making sure his voice sounds more annoyed than turned on. He thinks it works. For the most part. 

Bucky gives the phone one more glance before passing it to Steve. “A text came in from Sharon while I was looking at the list,” he says in a strained tone. “I didn’t mean to look. Sorry.”

Steve can tell by his voice that Bucky is bothered by something. A mild sense of panic forms in his stomach. Did his voice give him away? Did he make things awkward between them? Steve grabs his phone, shoving it in his pocket before pushing the cart rather forcefully in search of sugar and yeast. 

“It’s okay. I doubt it was anything important,” Steve tosses over his shoulder. 

“I didn’t realize you were seeing her again,” Bucky hesitates. 

Steve glances over at him and is surprised to see an almost hurt look on Bucky’s face. Steve knows Sharon and Bucky didn’t get along, although he still can’t figure out why. But there wasn’t any reason for Bucky to be upset about her text. 

“I’m not. We’re just meeting up as friends.”

Bucky snorts, wrestling the cart away from Steve. “You might want to tell her that. Her text definitely sounds like she thinks it’s a date.”

Steve pulls up the text as he walks behind Bucky and sure enough, Sharon’s message is on the flirty side. Great. Now he has to let her down gently one more time. As much as he likes Sharon, he can’t seem to get over his infatuation for Bucky. It has interfered with more relationships than he cares to admit. Steve promised himself he wouldn’t date again until he got this ridiculous crush out of his system. Which he’s sure will happen sometime soon. 

“Stop lying to yourself,” he mumbles under his breath. 

They make their way to the baking aisle, Steve stopping every few feet to keep Bucky from adding god-knows-what to their cart. He hates that he has to be the food police but Bucky does not take his diabetes seriously. 

Steve reaches for the coconut sugar as Bucky makes a jerking off motion behind him. “It’s like you don’t listen at all during your check-ups! Dr. Cho said you have to be more careful about your diet. And stop doing that!” 

“Do you have eyes in the back of your fucking head?” Bucky sputters. It shouldn’t sound as sexy as it does and yet Steve’s dick perks up. 

Before Steve can form a sarcastic response, a little old lady comes up to the two of them.

“I think it’s so sweet to see young love! My Harold and I used to argue like that all the time.” she says as she pinches both their cheeks. 

Steve’s eyes go comically wide, his fair skin giving him away. 

“Uhm...we’re not… “ Steve starts and Bucky finishes with “...together, ma’am.” 

She steps back, glancing between the two of them. “The two of you aren’t together?” she asks, confusion etched on her face. 

“We’re just friends,” they say at the same time. 

The little old lady levels them with a school marm, pointed stare. “Really?” 

Steve is usually very kind to the elderly but he wants to tell her to shut the fuck up. 

“Really,” Bucky croaks out. 

She busts out laughing, going back to her cart. “Fucking idiots,” she cackles. 

She leaves them standing there in an awkward silence. Steve refuses to look over at Bucky, afraid his emotions are written all over his face. He can feel Bucky fidgeting next to him though and Steve is secretly hoping the store catches on fire. 

“Did she call us fucking idiots?” Bucky asks incredulously, breaking the tension. 

“Yeah, I think so,” Steve answers. “I have no idea why,” he tacks on hastily. 

Steve is standing there clutching a bag of coconut sugar in his hand, praying to every god in existence that Bucky just drops it. 

“She thought we were together,” Bucky says, clearly not fucking dropping it. 

“We do bicker like an old married couple,” Steve jokes, although it falls flat. 

They both stand there for a ridiculous amount of time, neither one of them daring to speak. Steve has spent years trying to avoid this very moment. The moment where Bucky has to let him down gently and Steve has to pretend he’s fine with it. The moment where their friendship becomes irrevocably damaged because Steve carelessly fell in love with his best friend. And it hurts as bad as he thought it would. 

“Do you think she’s seeing something we’re missing?” Bucky asks in a soft whisper.

Steve’s brain comes to a screeching halt. 

“Uhmmm… what?” he responds with all the eloquence of a drunk frat bro. 

Bucky clears his throat, turning to face Steve. “I said, do you think she’s seeing something we’re missing?” 

Steve risks a glance over at Bucky and his breath catches in his throat. The coconut sugar falls from his hands, landing with a thud on the ground. Bucky is looking at Steve in a way he’s never seen before. It’s open and raw and breathtaking. A tendril of hope starts to curl itself around Steve’s heart. It gives him the courage to cup Bucky’s neck and bring their lips together. 

Steve groans into the kiss because Bucky’s lips are a thousand times sweeter than his imagination led him to believe. Bucky grips onto Steve’s arm, pulling them even closer to each other. Without a care to their surroundings, Steve deepens the kiss and delights in the noises it draws out of Bucky. They get lost in this new feeling, hands moving and staying still all at once. Steve has no concept of time because he’s finally getting everything he ever wanted. 

“That’s what I thought,” the little old lady laughs behind them, picking up the discarded coconut sugar and putting it in her cart. 


End file.
